Meditation
In the thesis meditation is defined as a design method, letting experiences of psychological concepts, interpretations and association from the meditative state dictate parts of the design.
This thesis applies the notion of meditation as an intentionally induced psychological state, described as consciousness characterized by mental presence, focused and sustained attention, relaxation, and absence of both internal and external judgment.
Real meditation isn’t about understanding things conceptually. It’s the ability to experience things prior to concepts, and it leads to another way of being in the world – one that can allow for a kind of psychological freedom that a continuous entanglement with concepts doesn’t.
Meditative states can be attained both through internal methods and external conditions. Internally induced methods, which relies on the individual’s subjective inner psychological regulations and focus, is for example breathing techniques, auditory instructions and mantras.1
Whereas externally induced conditions draws and uphold attention toward their perceptual and objective elements, as for example artefacts, iconography, social situations or natural environments. This is where architecture plays a role.